Walker and Walker

In *Walker and Walker*, Young J of the Family Court of Australia considered an application concerning parenting orders for a child born in September 2003. The dispute involved the discharge of prior orders, including injunctive orders and the placement of the child on an Airport Watch List, and the establishment of new arrangements for the child's residence, parental responsibility, and relocation.

The court was required to determine the appropriate parenting arrangements for the child, specifically addressing issues of equal shared parental responsibility, the child's residence, the wife's proposed relocation with the child from Melbourne to Gippsland, and the father's contact and travel arrangements with the child. Furthermore, the court had to consider the discharge of existing injunctive orders and the removal of the child from the Airport Watch List.

Young J ordered the discharge of all prior child and parenting orders, including those made by Judicial Registrar Ramsden on 11 October 2005, which had placed the child on an Airport Watch List. The court established equal shared parenting responsibility for the child, with the child to live with the wife. The wife and child were permitted to relocate their residence to Gippsland, Victoria. The child was to spend time with and communicate with the father as agreed, to include school term and long summer holiday periods. Specific provisions were made for the father to travel overseas with the child, including a potential four-week trip to Sweden in June/July 2009, subject to the wife's provision of travel and accommodation details and her ability to communicate with the child. The Australian and Swedish passports of the child were to be released to the wife for safekeeping, with provisions for their release to the husband for overseas travel and immediate return upon the child's return to Australia. The court also ordered the wife to serve a copy of the orders on the Australian Federal Police to advise them of the discharge of the Airport Watch List order.